Dr David James, LEH’s Deputy Head, was excited to attend the launch of his new book this week. Schools of Thought: Lessons to  learn from schools doing things differently, which Dr James co-authored with Jane Lunnon, Head of Alleyn’s School in Dulwich, includes interviews with leaders from schools within and beyond the UK. As the name suggests, the book looks particularly at schools which do things differently or with a focus on a particular area. Here, Dr James tell us about his experience of writing the book and what he found most interesting and enjoyable. 

Congratulations on the publication of your new book. What inspired you to write it? 

There are complex issues affecting society today and these are strongly felt across schools. We wanted to look at schools which define themselves in some way in relation to those complex issues. There can be a lot of misconceptions about schools, and we wanted to give a voice to school leaders themselves and to understand why they are choosing to prioritise certain things over others – for example, why technology or faith may be the driving force behind a school’s ethos above other factors.  

Teachers, and schools, are incredibly busy as you’d expect, and teachers don’t always have opportunity to visit other schools as much as they’d like to – hopefully the book will give readers access to some interesting perspectives they wouldn’t necessarily get to hear. 

We started work on the book in 2020, just before schools around the world started having to adapt to the challenges of education during the pandemic. It gave us even greater motivation to keep in contact with the schools and to learn about what they were doing.  It forced us (and we hope our contributors) out of their bubbles.  

What was your most interesting learning personally while researching and writing the book? 
As well as being able to explore and understand very different schools in greater depth, I found visiting Eden Girls’ School, Waltham Forest, a Muslim girls’ school in north London, very interesting. It was wonderful to speak to the girls there and to discuss their faith and their school. They were confident, unafraid, and outspoken and they talked robustly about their experiences of their school. This perhaps challenged some of my own preconceptions about what a Muslim school for girls would be like.  

Each chapter ends with input from someone with a different view, for example, at the end of the chapter about faith schools, we hear from someone with a humanist perspective. We hope it helps to understand and encourage wider thinking about what are often very complex issues. 

What are some of the things that unite schools in a world where opinions and beliefs can be polarising? 

It’s not often talked about but if I compare what things were like when I went to school – I went to a comprehensive first and then to a private school – I see such a difference between those schools and schools today. Compared to them, there is much more focus on the needs of children, and this is reflected in the language used, the support systems in place, the teaching and learning and the structure of the school day, as well as in the high-quality pastoral provision. Most people who grew up in the 70s or 80s probably went to schools that weren’t organised around the full needs of children; the focus was on doing exams and doing a bit of sport. Parents were far less involved in their children’s education than they are today. So, all those changes are positive. All the schools we explored were united by an overwhelming commitment to academic progress and wellbeing in the best interest of their children, and everything else flows from this.   

Which of the schools in your book might you have liked to have gone to as a pupil and why? 

Well, the Green School in Bali for obvious reasons! That would have been nice. I think the International School of Geneva is wonderful and very impressive. It’s the birthplace of the IB and continues to do innovating and interesting things. I spent some time on a placement at Riverdale overlooking Manhattan in New York. The head, who contributes to the book (but who has now retired) was a real visionary and was constantly asking questions and for ideas – it’s a great style and opened up thinking for students and staff alike. Other creative schools, like the Brit School and the Royal Ballet School are also fascinating. I wish I’d gone to a school that had encouraged me to write and really took an interest in my curiosity and interests as a child. I would have enjoyed the focus on creativity.  

What do you think the best three changes in education have been in the last few decades? 

1. I think it has to be greater awareness of mental health and wellbeing in children, which has accelerated over the last 15 years and for good reason. Schools are far more aware of what makes children happy or unhappy, and this is now enshrined in policies and frameworks which is a good thing.   

2. The area of policy I think has had significant, long-lasting impact is the emphasis on phonics in early years; which has been invested in by successive governments. Literacy levels in England have increased when other countries have seen them decline and this focus and investment in early years is so important for long-term outcomes. 

3. The third has to be technology – when its used well and appropriately – and the ability to access the world’s information. GenZ and Gen Alpha should be reminded of the wonder of the internet and how incredible its invention is. But it has also brought a wealth of resources, and contacts, to teachers who are learning from each other all the time.   

If you were to write another book in ten years’ time, what do you predict you’d be writing about? 

I imagine, given the pace of change and development, it will relate to the reaction and/or over correction when it comes to the use of tech in schools. When we started writing the book, we weren’t talking about AI and its involvement in teaching and learning as we are today. Nobody had heard of ChatGPT or large language models and now these are accessible on our phones. We will always need and have teachers in the classroom with children, but AI will complement this. You cannot outsource learning and knowledge and recall, and the human interaction is important. But I imagine there will be new forms of traditionalism. Beyond that – nothing is certain!  

What are your top tips for writing a book? 

I don’t write fiction or poetry and most of my work is non-fiction or reviewing books. I’d say a key reflection is on editing. Very rarely can anything ever be ‘perfect’. The more you practise the better you become but there’s often a little room for improvement. The best writers in the world have an editor but sometimes feedback or the editing of something we’ve written can feel a bit difficult to accept. I see this when giving students feedback on their work too, but if feedback on a person’s writing is done in a sensitive way, and you are open minded and see the good intent and value, it’s actually very helpful. For me, when working on the book, I could see the consistency of what my editor was doing and how it was improving my writing – so it’s a reminder that editing is an important part of all writing, whatever stage you are as a writer. 

How has the process of writing the book impacted your practice as a teacher and school leader? 

It reminds me, as an English teacher, of the vital importance of encouraging children to read widely, to ask questions and to develop curiosity about others and their quality of thinking. If you’re a school leader at every level, the more you find out about other schools and especially those that are outside your immediate circle, sector or country, the better your ideas and understanding will be. Ultimately, you write books to learn, to expand your horizons, and the same is true of reading. 

 

Schools of Thought: Lessons to learn from schools doing things differently by David James and Jane Lunnon is published by Bloomsbury and can be ordered here.